A global tragedy of monumental proportions is unfolding at the top of the world, and the human race is all but oblivious to what’s happening. The Crisis Under The Ice

Signs of the permafrost melting are being revealed, which has ominous meaning for the entire Earth and it’s inhabitants. A runaway greenhouse effect can occur with the dumping of millions of tons of methane being released into the atmosphere. The planet will heat up and make human life impossible.

How fast can this happen? Very, very quickly, in a matter of months once the tipping point is reached. More methane creates more trapped heat, which releases even more methane… in a very short period of time, the planet heats up, melts more reflective ice, and unable to shed off excess solar radiation, all life on Earth dies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global warming is forecast to set in with a vengeance after 2009, with at least half of the five following years expected to be hotter than 1998, the warmest year on record, scientists reported on Thursday.Â Global Warming Will Step Up After 2009

And almost nobody is aware of this. The existence of new lakes in the Siberian regions are a sign this is happening now. Once the threshold is reached, there is nothing humans can do.

Everytime the climate research scientists go back, they up their estimates rather dramatically.Â The rate of ice melting has been re-estimated at 25 faster then predicted only last year. This is a common occurrence, as measurable conditions are minutely tracked.

How close are we to a temperature tipping point?Â Depends on who you talk to and what sources you cite. The published news articles talk about this “century” or even the next 50 years.

But other sources, much closer to the scientists who make these measurements aren’t nearly so optimistic. There was a lot of heated debate in the IPCC published data, many scientists felt that the report was being deliberately toned down to suppress any panic.Â But taken as a whole, from the various published sources of data, there is a dramatic upward climb leaving me to wonder just how much time we really have before the temperature tipping point is irreversible.

It’s a dicey subject, one which makes people angry, politicians bluster and scientists argue.

So we stay in denial. Unbelievable. Talk about generational irresponsibility.

The great tragedy of our day is it is going to take a monumental crisis of global proportions to wake up our populations to the dire need to change how we live. But by the time this happens, the trigger effects and tipping points would of course, all have been reached and it will be far too late to do anything about any of it anyway.

This is another way of realizing that it’s a foregone conclusion that we will not be making the changes necessary for the future generations survival now, or ever. This generation is too busy with the mundane, inane and ridiculous infotainments that pass for essential human knowledge.

Well, it’s been nice knowing (some) of you. Sorry I couldn’t say hello to the next generation.

4 Responses to “Oblivious – But hey, what’s new?”

Yeah….that’s what I meant when I said the destruction of twawki is a done deal.
So 99.9% of the human race has around 50 years. The elite of elites are, as usual, trying to scheme their way out of consequences. Guess they think they will live underground? So control of the population crucial, and why not? There will be no historians….

So, the ‘choice’ (not that it is) is ‘death by chocolate’ now or ‘death by (self-mediated) flatulence’ later! Indeed, ‘delicious’ irony.

OTOH, there remains (and ‘forever’ will ) the potential if not inevitability of ‘death by irradiation’. If/when the “methane catastrophe” is abundantly dire, the pink apes will lash out (just like always) on each other and on the entire biosphere (as if we haven’t been throughout all of HIStory) consequences be damned. ‘We’ would ‘do something’ irrevocable and seriously’ delusional (destructive). Such as initiate intentional nuclear winter (holocaust) as a vain attempt to slow/halt global frying (such that the few could ‘live’ in the private squalor of their sanctimonious prejudice). In which case, increasingly unlikely future generations could ‘benefit’ aka ‘enjoy’ the continuous inhalation of radioactive farts during their visitation to the global saunatorium [sic].

BTW, the author of that “Opinion” article, Jeremy Rifkin, is IMO one of the most prescient writers of our time – and/or of any era. Among his many works is “Algeny”, which clearly warned of the dangers inherent in “biotechnology”, genetic manipulation, etc and he did so way back in early 1980’s. Apparently, Mr. Rifkin consistently inhabits ‘future space’ (pre-reality) – a virtual, biochemical Nostradamus so to speak. However, his vision is not obscured by mysticism and magic nor are his warnings couched in metaphors, anagrams or allegory.

Below is a brief excerpt from the final chapter of “Algeny”, entitled “Choices”:
“The skeptic might inquire as to why we should show a fair regard for every other living thing. The answer is to be found in how we come to terms with our own existence. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? When confronted with our own existence, two choices present themselves. If we experience life as a gift, we give thanks. Giving thanks means sharing our good fortune by helping to extend the gift of life to the rest of posterity. Indeed, if wisdom exists at all, it resides in the knowledge that life can truly be enjoyed if it is generously shared and extended. If, however, we experience life as an obstacle to overcome, then we will be relentless in our search for ways to defeat its most essential attribute, its temporary nature, its limited duration. We will devour the life around us in order to extend our own. We will exhaust the very reservoirs of life from which the future is secured, all in an effort to secure our own future in perpetuity.
Up to now we have allowed nothing to come in the way of our efforts to secure our future. Over the centuries, we have constructed countless cosmologies to lend an air of legitimacy to our ceaseless drive for self-perpetuation at all costs. We have deceived ourselves into believing that our interests were in accord with the interests of the universe, when in fact it was only our limited needs that were being projected onto the cosmos.

Sacrificing a measure of our future security in order to represent the interests of the rest of the cosmos is the most difficult request that we can ever make of ourselves. It is fitting and perhaps more than a bit ironic that only now is the human race even entertaining posing such a question for the first time. Now that we [think we] have it in our power to refashion all of nature in order to secure our future, we need to ponder whether such is our right.”

Continuing in ‘quotation mode’, here are a couple more that IMO mesh well with (define) the contemporary biped predicament:

“There cannot be a rapprochement with reality for those who have never had a relationship with it in the first place. ”

“Animus, ignorance, and magical thinking are a tragic mix â€” and Iâ€™m afraid that vintage of mind is the hideous wine of our times.”
~ Phil Rockstroh in “Tales of Angst, Alienation and Martial Law: …”, can be found at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=167#more-167

Bonus points, for (minimal) levity:

“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.” Arthur C. Clarke

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” John Cage

“No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.” Lily Tomlin

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.” W. Edwards Deming

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” H.G. Wells

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Philip K Dick

“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.” Lily Tomlin